On 17 May 2013, Tanzania withdrew, citing conflicting schedules with African Nations Championship qualifiers and the Kagame Interclub Cup.[5] The Tanzanian and Ugandan Federations were unable to agree on a new date for the African Nations Championship qualifying game due to a conflict with the FUFA elections.[6] Tanzania were replaced with Equatorial Guinea,[7] a member of the Central African Football Federations' Union (UNIFFAC), but they withdrew from the competition on 24 June.[8]
The FIFA World Rankings from 11 April 2013 were used to decide which teams receive a bye to the quarter-final stage.
Prior to the start of the competition, the Zambian government did not provide funds to make the Godfrey 'Ucar' Chitalu 107 Stadium in Kabwe suitable for the competition. As a result, those games were relocated to the Nkana Stadium in Kitwe.[9]
†This fixture was originally scheduled to take place on 7 July at 15:00 (UTC+2). However, Kenya's arrival at the tournament was delayed due to the players' league commitments.[10]
Knockout stage
Bracket
Zambia, South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi received a bye to this stage.